Is it a good thing if a reflection on your learning moves you to tears? I think so. It means that I have been affected by the course I have taken. I have let myself be known and opened my perspective of the world to influence. This has been a wonderful experience. Here is my video reflection on my learning along with a long list of links directing you to the people and places on the web that have had a significant impact on my learning this semester.

I must give special thanks to the amazing gabyreel, a friend here in Montreal, for giving me the idea of doing a stop-motion assignment.

Reflection on your learning is always so difficult because learning is for life.

School is a pilgrimiage. It is the movement of the heart and mind in a particular way.

It requires wayfinding and sensemaking as there is no coheret whole. You have to find your own way.

And so we move from one temporary centre to another, never knowing who we will learn from.

But don’t worry… if something is important, it will resurface.

For me, this journey is a map of people. Planetwalkers John Francis and the peace pilgrim have shared the road, showing me that the secret to finding a special place in life’s patterns depends on living in harmony with others and having the right attitude – that being wonder and humility.

I am indeed humbled by the beauty people create together around the world – and the affect that can have. All through the power of sharing ourselves openly with one another.

I have shared john francis’ words with many over the term… maybe you can’t change the word by your actions alone, but you can change yourself. And when you do, the world around you may change by trying to understand you, as we all try to understand each other.

For me, this is the base of rhizomatic learning. When I change myself, though the interconnectedness of thought and knowledge, I have an effect on the beings around me. Through the deep and broad roots that ground the human legacy in the earth, I can tap into ancient wisdom and by sharing those cashes with others, I shift the means of the whole.

Counter to what we have known, this is not a question of Who belongs here? rather it is a space where Free Range Students wander as nomads and encouter Free Range Teachers – our knowledge production happens in the space of everyday life. It is founded on an open oath that holds that the world’s knowledge is a public good – a part of the commons to which we all deserve equal access as beings on the planet.

Who is teaching me? Is the wrong question. I both learn from and teach who I share with.

Who am I sharing with?

What am I sharing?

How am I sharing?

The DIY or do-it-yourself model seems cold – like a mechanical repository of contextless media – but the opportunity to be a producer puts the agency in my hands – am I producing something meaningful? I guess that’s up to me to decide!

In the meantime, I get to participate to collaborate to contribute without boundaries or borders – d’arcy Norman

I am able to participate in live knowledge building on a daily basis with a group of peers – dave cormier

The point of it all is intellectual emancipation – taking us to a place where we understand ourselves and our reasons for acting beyond ideology and beyond the commonplace. – Jerome melacon

One of the ways to reach this space of freedom is through art. “poetry is nothing…..

Purposeful play helps liberate students and teachers from passivity – validating their experience by honouring the process. It is a safe place to experiment and become a producer of knowledge. And from that production we begin to see and understand ourselves.

A gift of authentic human expression cannot be paralleled. It is a gift of self in the form of artifact. And it is the foundation of the online life. Sharing with one another authentically makes social truth transparent and makes a direct challenge at those who perpetuate lies.

“Let your actions reflect that which burns within you like a voice”

Quote by Paulo Freire “True revolution cannot fear the people, their expression, their effective participation in poer. It must be accountable to them, ust speak frankly to them of its achievements, its mistakes, its miscalculations and its difficulties” (Pedagogy of the Oppressed, p. 128)

If I am free

I will choose to be free

With people who are not afraid

To be human

This is the growing space of learning. This is where people are gathering. It is a global space. It is a space of existential revolution. It’s about discovery and change, community as curriculum, personal learning and emmersion and it’s a place where art is welcome, and sharing encouraged. Where the artifacts of the lived process provide presence and authenticity.

This is the space of the social artists

I want to thank these social artists

You have introduced me to each other

You have introduced me to ideas

Validated my personal expressions of self

And made them meaningful

And showed me that they have meaning

I would especially like to thank Alec Couros for being my professor for the past 3 years that I have sat in on this class. And to the 2011eci831 group, thank you for your presence and your willingness to embark on this educational journey. And for letting me play my uke in class!!! Xoxo